Already a member?

Disney (DIS) Investors Hate Star Wars

Star Wars fanatics are jumping for joy at news of the classic
series revival today.
Disney (
DIS
)
investors aren't so enthused.

Disney shares fell 2% today after the company announced it was
buying
Lucasfilm
, the production company that produced all six Star Wars films,
for a cool $4 billion. Plans for another three Star Wars films
are already in the works - "Episode 7" is already scheduled for
release in 2015.

Star Wars is undoubtedly one of the most profitable franchises
in movie history. The previous six films grossed nearly $4.5
billion in worldwide box office sales.

However, the last three movies didn't garner the critical
acclaim of the earlier films. But are bad reviews what prompted
some Disney investors to sell their shares today? Probably
not.

Bad timing was probably the larger culprit, given that the
announcement came the day after one of the worst
natural disasters
the East Coast has ever seen.

Some analysts also questioned whether Disney overpaid for
their Lucasfilm rights. Also, Disney isn't likely to see much
revenue from its Lucasfilm purchase for a little while.

Disney investors are surely hoping that the company's
Lucasfilm purchase pays off the way its 2009 buyout of Marvel
Entertainment has. Disney bought Marvel for the same $4 billion
price. That allows it to produce comic-book movies like "
The Avengers
," which this year became the third-highest grossing move of
all-time.

Despite today's decline, Disney shares are still having a good
year. The stock is up 28% in 2012.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

Please note that once you make your selection, it will apply to all future visits to NASDAQ.com.
If, at any time, you are interested in reverting to our default settings, please select Default Setting above.

If you have any questions or encounter any issues in changing your default settings, please email isfeedback@nasdaq.com.

Please confirm your selection:

You have selected to change your default setting for the Quote Search. This will now be your default target page;
unless you change your configuration again, or you delete your
cookies. Are you sure you want to change your settings?